Driving or idler drum for article feeding belt

ABSTRACT

A driving drum or an idler drum for use with an article feeding belt for intermittently feeding a series of articles along a path so as to present them in succession to a plurality of operating stations where operations are performed on said articles in sequence. The belt is of non-stretch character and has a series of equally spaced article-receiving apertures of a shape to seat said articles. The drum carries on its periphery a series of plugs of a thickness at least equal to the belt thickness. The plugs are configured to fit snugly in the belt apertures when the belt is in a curved condition as it passes around the drum; and the leading and trailing edges of the plugs are profiled to enter and leave the belt apertures without interference. The plugs are secured in recessed flats on the drum periphery, the flats being of a size to accommodate the largest plugs for use with belts having apertures of a size to carry the largest of the articles to be treated. The plugs are easily replaced by smaller plugs for use with belts arranged to carry smaller articles.

United States Patent 1 1 Maschke 11] 3,812,953 1 1 May as, 1974 DRIVINGOR IDLER DRUM FOR ARTICLE FEEDING BELT [75] Inventor: Marvin WalterMaschke, Sidney,

Ohio

[73] Assignee: The Stolle Corporation, Sidney,

Ohio

[22] Filed: Apr. 21, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 246,362

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No.85,087, Oct. 29,

1970, abandoned.

Primary ExaminerRichard E. Aegerter Assistant Examiner-.loseph E.Valenza Attorney, Agent, or Firm lohn W. Melville; Albert E. Strasser;Stanley H. Foster [5 7 1 ABSTRACT A driving drum or an idler drum forusewith an article feeding belt for intermittently feeding a series ofarticles along a path so as to present them in succession to a pluralityof operating stations where operations are performed on said articles insequence. The belt is of non-stretch character and has a series ofequally spaced article-receiving apertures of a shape to seat saidarticles. The drum carries on its periphery a series of plugs of athickness at least equal to the belt thickness. The plugs are configuredto fit snugly in the belt apertures when the belt is in a curvedcondition as it passes around the drum; and the leading and trailingedges of the plugs are profiledto enter and leave the belt apertureswithout interference. The plugs are secured in recessed flats on thedrum periphery, the flats being of a size to accommodate the largestplugs for use with belts having apertures of a size to carry the largestof the articles to be treated. The plugs are easily replaced by smallerplugs for use with belts 'arranged to carry smaller articles.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDums-mu v SHEET 1 or 2 lNVENTOR/SMARVIN W MASCHKE M%M,%M

ATTO R N EYS DRIVING OR IDLER DRUM FOR ARTICLE FEEDING BELT CROSSREFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is related to anapplication in the name of Elton G. Kaminski, Ser. No. 838,847, filedJuly 3, 1969, and is a continuation-in-part of applica tion, Ser. No.85,087, filed Oct. 29, I970, now abandoned.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a drum for usewith an article feeding belt in an apparatus where a succession of likearticles are fed along a path to a succession of operating stationswhere operations are performed on the articles. A machine of the type towhich this invention relates is shown in US. Pat. to Kaminski et al.,No. 3,231,065, issued Jan. 25, 1966.

In the apparatus of that patent, a stainless steel belt was provided andsaid belt had sprocket holes along its edges and was driven by asprocket drum. The belt had apertures in which the articles were seatedin order to be fed by the belt. The articles particularly disclosed werebeverage can ends. An arrangement was provided for adjusting theposition of the belt so that the articles carried thereby were properlyoriented at the several operating stations.

In the Kaminski application, Ser. No. 838,847, mentioned above, the beltis disclosed as being of fabric impregnated with Neoprene or similarmaterial and the belt had non-stretchable elements such as steel wiresor cables embedded therein to give it non-stretch characteristics. Thebelt was internally toothed and was driven by a toothed drum. A moresophisticated apparatus for adjusting the position of the belt withrespect to the operating station was disclosed.

According to the present invention, the belt may again be of fabricimpregnated with Neoprene or the like and having non-stretchableelements embedded therein as in said copending application. The belt isdesigned (in the embodiment shown) to feed circular articles such asbeverage can ends to operating stations for the attachment of pull tabsand scoring and the like. According to the present invention, the belthas no teeth and no sprocket holes and the article feeding apertures arerelied upon for moving the belt in cooperation with plugs secured to thefeeding drum, which plugs are arranged to fit snugly into the articlefeeding apertures.

Since from time to time articles of different sizes will have to beprocessed, it will be necessary to change belts, and to provide aplurality of belts, having apertures for each size of article to beprocessed. This, of course, necessitates changing drums, or the plugs orthe drums which engage the article feeding apertures. According to thepresent invention, a plurality of sets of plugs, adapted to cooperatewith belts having apertures of different sizes, may be provided; and itis a simple matter to remove one set of plugs and replace it withanother.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is aperspective view of a drum and a fragment of a belt in operativerelation thereto.

FIG. 2 is an axial elevational view of the drum and belt.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view of a portion of the drum atwhich the belt is tangentially disposed with respect to a driving plug.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of a drum, with parts in crosssection, showing the mounting of the plugs on the drum; and

FIG. '5 is a fragmentary plan view of the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The article carrying belt is indicated at It) andis provided with a series of equally spacedcircular apertures 11 inwhich the articles, for example can ends, are seated to be carried alongto the operating stations. The drums are indicated at 12 and are mountedupon shafts l3. Adjusting means may be provided as at M. It will beunderstood that the adjusting means may be as outlined in the abovepatent or in the above mentioned application. The adjusting means do notform a part of the present invention.

According to the present invention, at least the driving drum. isprovided on its periphery with a plurality of driving plugs 15. In thedrawings, there are shown eight such driving plugs, such that as thebelt passes around the drum 12, each article feeding aperture II of thebelt is engaged by one of the driving plugs 15. It will be understood,however, that it is not necessary for each and every aperture II to beengaged by a plug and that four plugs 15 could be used instead of eight.It is only necessary that at least one plug be in full contact with anaperture at all times. That is, before the belt moves to a positionwhere the aperture 11 in the belt disengages from a plug 15, anotheraperture must be fully seated on another plug 15.

The plugs 15 may simply be circular discs warped to fit on the surfaceof the drum. It will be understood that as the circular apertures II arebent in passing around the drum, the circular configuration becomeselliptical. The same would of course be true of the circular plug 15.Preferably, however, the plugs 15 will be turned, milled and contouredto the required configuration. It must be noted also that the leadingand trailing edges of the plugs 15, as indicated at 15a and 15b, must beconfigured such that they engage and disengage the apertures 11 .withoutinterference. In other words, they must be profiled much as gear teeth.As a matter of assistance in aligning the belt with the drum, the plugsare preferably domed as at 16 and they may have a shank 17 which ispressed into a hole 18 in the drum. The thickness of the plugs 15 shouldbe at least the thickness of the belt to insure proper gripping.

It is of course important that the drum which intermittently drives thebelt be provided with the plugs as above described but it is alsodesirable that the idler drum or drums over which the belt passesemploys the same plug constrution. The use of plugs on the idler drumassures that there will be no slippage between the belt and idler drumto avoid abrasion of the drum and wear on the belt.

While in the embodiment described above, and shown in the drawings, thework pieces are circular, and therefore the apertures in the belt arecircular, and the plugs are shaped to fit the said apertures in theirdistorted condition as they pass around the drum, it should beunderstood that the invention is adaptable to other shapes of workpieces. It is only necessary that the apertures in the belt have aconfiguration to seat the articles snugly. and that the plugs be shapedto fit the belt apertures as they are distorted in passing around thedrum, and are configured at their leading and trailing edges to engageand disengage the apertures in the belt without interference.

It is important that the plugs be easily removed, and replaced withother plugs of different sizes, so that articles of other sizes may beaccepted in different sized apertures in other belts. As best seen inFIGS. 4 and 5, the plugs are seated in flats which are milled into theperiphery of the drum. One such circular flat is indicated at 19 inthese Figures. The flats will be ofa diameter to accept the largestplug, and smaller plugs may then be seated in the same flats. In theparticular example shown, it will be noted that the plug 15 is smallerthan the flat 19, so that a larger or smaller plug could be seated inthe flat. The shank 17 is preferably threaded, and the plug is held inplace by means of a washer 20 and nut 21. Because of the particularconfiguration of the plug described above, the plug must be properlyoriented on the flat, and maintained in its properly oriented position.For this purpose the plug and the drum are provided with drilled holes,and a pin 22 is seated therein. Each set of plugs will be provided withshanks of identical diameter, and with holes for the orienting pins.Thus the changing of sets of plugs is a simple and speedy matter.

The endless belts must of course have a joint, and this is usually awelded joint. Flexing of the joint tends to ultimately break the joint.it is therefore important to minimize flexing by making the drums ofrelatively large diameter. Thus the drum should have at least one inchof diameter for each 0.001 inch thickness of the belt, i.e. where thebelt is 0.015 inch in thickness, the drum should be at least 15 inchesin diameter. The amount of flexing of the belt with these parameterswill not adversely affect the joint.

It will be clear that numerous modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention and therefore no limitationsnot specifically set forth in the claims should be implied and no suchlimitation is intended.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In an apparatus having a belt, passing over at least two cylindricaldrums, and having means for intermittently driving one, at least, ofsaid drums for feeding a series of articles along a path so as topresent them in succession to a plurality of operating stations whereoperations are performed on said articles in sequence, said belt havinga series of equally spaced articlereceiving apertures ofa shape to fitsaid articles, and having non-stretch characteristics; one, at least, ofsaid drums having on its periphery a plurality of equally spacedrecessed flats, each flat having a central, radial mounting hole, a plughaving a threaded shank seated on each flat and held in place by a nutthreaded onto said shank, each of said plugs extending radially outwardbeyond the projected circumference of said drum by an amount at leastequal to the thickness of said belt, and of a configuration to fitsnugly into the apertures in said belt when said belt is in contact withsaid drums, and the leading and trailing edges of said plugs beingprofiled to enter and leave said apertures without interference, andmeans to fix the orientation of each plug on its flat, the number ofplugs on said drum being such that at least one of said plugs is in fullengagement with a belt aperture at all times.

2. 'An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said flats are recessedinto the drum periphery.

3. An apparatus according to claim I, wherein the orienting means foreach plug comprise a pin seated in aligned holes in said flat and plug.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of plugs onsaid drum is such that each aperture on said belt is engaged by a plug,as said belt passes around said drum.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, said drum being intermittentlydriven and constituting the prime mover for said belt.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, said drum being an idler.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said belt passes around twodrums, one being a driver and the other an idler, and both drums areprovided with said driving plugs.

8. Apparatus according to claim I, wherein said apertures are circular.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, having one inch of diameter foreach 0.001 inch of belt thickness,

whereby to avoid excessive flexing of said belt.

1. In an apparatus having a belt, passing over at least two cylindricaldrums, and having means for intermittently driving one, at least, ofsaid drums for feeding a series of articles along a path so as topresent them in succession to a plurality of operating stations whereoperations are performed on said articles in sequence, said belt havinga series of equally spaced article-receiving apertures of a shape to fitsaid articles, and having non-stretch characteristics; one, at least, ofsaid drums having on its periphery a plurality of equally spacedrecessed flats, each flat having a central, radial mounting hole, a plughaving a threaded shank seated on each flat and held in place by a nutthreaded onto said shank, each of said plugs extending radially outwardbeyond the projected circumference of said drum by an amount at leastequal to the thickness of said belt, and of a configuration to fitsnugly into the apertures in said belt when said belt is in contact withsaid drums, and the leading and trailing edges of said plugs beingprofiled to enter and leave said apertures without interference, andmeans to fix the orientation of each plug on its flat, the number ofplugs on said drum being such that at least one of said plugs is in fullengagement with a belt aperture at all times.
 2. An apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein said flats are recessed into the drum periphEry. 3.An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the orienting means for eachplug comprise a pin seated in aligned holes in said flat and plug.
 4. Anapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of plugs on said drumis such that each aperture on said belt is engaged by a plug, as saidbelt passes around said drum.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, saiddrum being intermittently driven and constituting the prime mover forsaid belt.
 6. An apparatus according to claim 1, said drum being anidler.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said belt passesaround two drums, one being a driver and the other an idler, and bothdrums are provided with said driving plugs.
 8. Apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein said apertures are circular.
 9. An apparatus accordingto claim 1, having one inch of diameter for each 0.001 inch of beltthickness, whereby to avoid excessive flexing of said belt.